Alright everyone - since when do we get a wind guarantee for any location on any particular weekend? I keep hearing people bitch about "Expo week is always dead" or "the year I went I got skunked..."Marina picks a date smack in the windy season down here - one of the locals said he'd ridden 8 days straight before today. As they say: you pay your money and take your chances. It's like booking a surf trip or ski vacation; mother nature delivers or she doesn't.

Lets not forget one of the main objectives down here and look for a short moment past ourselves - this is a fundraiser for Kinsley...

I was there last year and nobody used anything bigger than 10m for the 3 days of the expo.I agree with Kirk, enough bitching. Forecast is looking good. You're free to go.Don't whine if you get skunked or if you don't go and the wind ends up being good.

sc-surfer wrote:Looking at the forecast for the weekend and it isn't much. Maxing out at 10-12 Fri-Sun. Is this a good forecast or are there micro climates that improve on the forecasted wind. (Like up here at Wadell where the fog bank is good for a boost over the forecast)

Just tryin' to get my head around weather or not it's worth the drive down.

Thanks to all who made it down for this year's event. I couldn't have asked for a better forecast at the beginning of the week then it went from great to iffy daily starting Wed. We had a high pressure system that just sat over us until Sunday when it moved out but it was blowing in other areas of the county. It started blowing at Pismo at 2p, was fully on at 2;30p and one vendor called me at 7:45 who had just packed up and was asking me for a good place to go eat.

So regarding reading the forecast, we do our best based on local knowledge but weather is weather. I'm sure you have your own local spots where everything sets up just right but just doesn't quite deliver which provides hours of kite babble entertainment in the meantime waiting for that elusive wind line......

I guess part of the whole point of this event is to not only give you guys the chance to test and ride a bunch of new gear conveniently at one place but also to have an event that promotes community in our sport. This event brings together Northern and Southern California riders, and we had riders from Utah and Washington as well.... I also met more riders from the valley area than I knew existed! We plan it during the windiest time of the year.. i mean for god's sake it blew 8 days straight before the event, yesterday and will blow probably for the rest of the week. of course! However it is a 3 day event to ensure that we hopefully at least get one strong day of demos so if you leave early on Sunday that's up to you. As it was, when the wind started up, 60+ kiters out of nowhere, at least 10 more people signed up to demo, at least 10 people came up to me disappointed that some vendors had already left and those who stayed were super stoked and kited until sunset....

Bottom line also is this event helps one of our fellow kiters Kinsley ThomasWong with the generous support of our industry and attendees who can win an awful lot of great stuff! I told a story at the fundraiser dinner about how Kinsley said to me a few weeks ago, Gosh Marina, spinal cord injuries take so long! I had to laugh as this was so Kinsley. Some people say he should accept that his life has changed and work with that reality. Be aware that Kinsley's spine was never severed it was fractured. He has parts that come back, that he can move, that he can feel and more but nothing has been permanent yet except for the movement he has gained in his left and right triceps/biceps and trunk (all directions which is HUGE). I applaud him and his wife Jamie for having the strength and faith to look at the glass half full and wake up every day thinking this could be the day I have a breakthrough, and working toward that goal. They are an inspiration to me which is why I hope this event keeps going for many years and that someday soon, Kinsley will be out there woo hooing at us all again.